This week's poll: What is more of a choice, religious belief or sexual orientation?

Choice

ChoiceDuring the GOP presidential debates, we have been hearing from various candidates about how they'd reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the military and work on a federal constitutional amendment that would ban same sex marriages.

For many Christians, sexual orientation is a moral issue based on individual choice –and a sinful choice that is destroying families and leading to the destruction of America.  Some claim that homosexuality can be "cured" or even exorcised.

In this week's poll, we ask what is more of a choice — a person's sexual orientation or a person's religious beliefs.

We only left two answers and welcome comments relevant to the issue, particularly if you cannot decide which is more of a choice. Because of our spam filters, if it is your first time commenting, your comment will be held in the moderation queue.  Once it's approved, your future comments will immediately publish so long as they comply with our terms that are briefly stated under the comment box.

This is obviously not a scientific poll.

Your vote is anonymous.  While our polling software records IPs to void double-voting, no one will be able to figure out your personal identity.

The poll will remain open until 5 AM Pacific time, Sunday, January 15.

Thanks for voting!

What is more of a choice, religion or sexual orientation?

  • Religion. (99%, 271 Votes)
  • Sexual orientation. (1%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 274

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elaine-Spencer/1826717248 Elaine Spencer via Facebook

    Sexual orientation is no more a choice than is being able to choose the natural color of your eyes. "Ignorance is the root and stem of evil." ~ Plato

  • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

    IMO, religion is more of a choice than one's sexual orientation. Granted, as children we are born into a religion without any choice, despite people saying we do as children. We do not have a choice, until we are adults. It is then one can either stay in it or leave, believe or not believe, although, depending on how one arrives at it, I don't think disbelief is a choice either.

    However, one's sexual orientation is never a choice from the research I've read. While most people appear to be straight, there are some who are not and it isn't as though they can just decide they are not going to look at people who are the same sex, anymore than I can stop drooling over George Takei, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Levar Burton, the dudes who play Sisko, Chakotay… You get the idea. If they are happy, why would they want to? I know I don't want to stop looking at cute guys.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1826717248 Elaine Spencer

    Sexual orientation is no more a choice than is being able to choose the natural color of your eyes. "Ignorance is the root and stem of evil." ~ Plato

  • http://allalltor.wordpress.com Rhys

    You can choose who you have sex with, but who you enjoy having sex with and who you are actually attracted to (and which gender of person you ultimately fall in love with) is a result of bio-mechanical processes.
    Belief is about your choice of which facts you let be delivered to you.

  • jay

    I voted that religion is more of a choice, but both propositions are questionable.

    "is a choice"/"is not a choice" is likely a false dichotomy, considering the number of people who are somewhere on the bisexual continuum.

    Similarly my non-religion is not a 'choice'. I cannot force myself to enjoy believing in a fairy tale.

    Even within conventional sexuality, many of us make active choices. We consider other people's spouses, or under aged individuals as 'off limits', so we do place limits on whom we fall in love with.

    The issue should never be about whether it's a 'choice'. It is not impossible that science may find there is some choice involved, or may develop the ability to adjust one's sexuality. Does that change things? It should not.

    It's simply a personal right to pursue the consensual sexual relationship the person desires. Whether it is genetically encoded or not.

  • http://www.godisimaginary.com Karl Schneider

    As a practical matter, many if not most children don't have a choice of religion any more than they can choose their orientation. The important distinction is, of course, that children can very easily outgrow their initial religious indoctrination and many do, but there is precious little evidence of a growing child or adolescent discarding their apparently innate wiring. Denying it for even many years is common as a sop to sociological mores, but doing so can happily be abandoned with maturing.

  • http://intelligenttheism.blogspot.com/ Patrick

    So, I'm just gonna go ahead and leave this link right here…

    http://tinyurl.com/7nxet4b

    …and then go on to explain my vote. Above, some one mentioned being on the fence here, because some people are bisexual. I'll point out that 'sexual orientation' is a term that includes bisexuality, which is as old (if not older), anthropologically, as homosexuality.

  • Har Davids

    Which one is a choice doesn't seem very important to me; what we all know is that religion has been the cause of much misery on the planet, and I don't know what the gays could be blamed for that could be compared to that.

  • http://www.williamgbecker.com Bill Becker

    Each of the major religions have liberal and conservative sides. I suggest that those who choose the conservative option are to a large extent fear-driven, which emotion inhibits free examination of alternatives and reduces the element of "freedom" in the choice. Thus, although the degree and kind of religious belief varies, there may not be as much freedom in the choice as appears.

  • http://7edb Laura

    Ok, my turn now. I am a true bisexual. How do I know this? I know this because my heart, mind, body and soul fall in love with PEOPLE. Gender is irrelevant. Love is energy and energy does not know gender nor does it care.

    I chose paganism over Catholicism because I could, I have that ability. I do not choose a man over or woman. I have no choice regarding who I fall in love with. My only choice is what to do with those feelings.

    SO…. You have no choice over your sexuality and full choice over your spiritual beliefs.

  • ed-words

    Religion is often a lifelong addiction
    that is 'very difficult' to overcome.

    But sexual orientation is 'impossible'
    to change (unless you get Marcus to
    pray for you.)
    ———————————–

    "Not tonight,Michele,I've been praying away the gay all day long."

    "Giddyup!"

  • http://www.onlinediamondbuyingadvice.com mike

    In this day and age, thankfully this question is almost a no-brainer. I'm glad to see that people realize that religion is most certainly a choice. People convert for others to make families work; to be more acceptable on account of social and peer pressures. However, in the case of sexual orientation,…I think that has more or less been proven through science that this is a matter of biological wiring and definitely NOT a choice. You can thank your genes for that one.

  • http://www.davidnigri.com.br Advogado RJ

    Sexual orientation is definitely not a choice, but the individual consciously decides whether to follow a religious belief or not.

  • Jojo

    1st I'm very happy to see comments coming from sensative & intelligent people. Your sexuality is not a choice. I was raised Roman Catholic & anything sexual or pleasurable was a sin. To make matters worse, at 14 I got sucked into a Pentecostal (fundamentalist) church. They rule by fear. God is to be feared but he loves you. He loves you so uch that if you exercise your free will without checking with Him (or the preacher) then you burn in hell fo all etermity. Since when did 2+2 = 22? Now 30 years later I still can't free myself entirely from the ideology I believed so much vbut know is a fantasy.

  • Remorazz

    I do not think that either is a choice you just have to discover WHAT you are within yourself and go with it.. We are all born with certain predispositions that guide us towards a goal, whether we wish it or not. The gullible will fall for certain religions, the enlightened for other ones. The logical mind will be moved towards other destinations and the thinker will question it all, ad vitam æternam. With regards to sexual orientation, I am of the same opinion. One does not chose their likes and dislikes, preferences or fetishes, one learns to love and live with them.
    Cheers